Thursday, September 06, 2007

The 7th edition of the Asian Film Symposium started this evening, with the Opening Film, Malaysian filmmaker Tan Chui Mui's award winning Love Conquers All, screened to a full house at The PIcturehouse. Director Tan Chui Mui was present to grace the occasion, and for the Q&A session after the screening.

Over the next few days, be prepared for some cutting edge shorts from around the region - Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, and even Australia. Best of all, the screenings are held over the weekends, and in the evenings, so film fans who want to sample a selection of what's out there, or who could possibly be the next big filmmaker to keep tabs on, wouldn't want to miss these sessions. Best of all, a forum on the Asian Film Festival Circuit will be held this Saturday afternoon at 4pm at the Substation Theatre, with the forum topic on the Asian Film Festival Circuit. Admission to the forum is free with registration at movingimages@substation.org

As part of the Substation's 17th Birthday bash. the SeptFest2007, a whole slew of events, of which the Asian Film Symposium is a part of, takes place this very month. From live performances to painting and multimedia exhibitions, there surely must be something that appeals to you. Best yet, and keep your fingers crossed for the approval from the authorities, is a big event called the Tunnel Party. More details of SeptFest2007 can be found here. Bookmark it!

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After the credits rolled, almost everyone adjourned to the Picturehouse lounge area for a Q&A session with Love Conquers All director Tan Chui Mui. Spotted in the crowd were local filmmakers like Wee Li Lin (Gone Shopping), Leonard Lai (The High Cost of Living), Sun Koh, Tan Pin Pin (Invisible City), and actress Mindee Ong (881) too!

Naturally, those who wish to know nothing about the film prior to watching it, should skip the following (spoiler alert) points which Chui Mui shared with us this evening.

She liked the first and last scenes. After all, those were the scenes she first had in mind and wrote about.

The inspiration for the movie came from a news report about a boy who cheated a girl into prostitution.

There were 5 cuts made in its commercial release in Malaysia. The obvious ones were of course the foreplay between Ping and John, Ping and her first customer, John kissing Ping at the phone booth, and what was curious enough, was John's calling out at a kampung "assalamualaykum" (peace be upon you), which was substituted with a *beep* sound, making it sound like he was calling out a vulgarity.

The Indian Man at the beginning of the scene was styled after Gandhi, metaphorically with the shifting of seats with Ping, to convey the thought that while there are other important issues to talk about, this is what Chui Mui wanted to focus on.

The pen pal scene was actually shot with a small fat boy in the role, but it was eventually edited out.

Although the DP was James Lee, himself an accomplished director (in the same production house), Chui Mui said that his professionalism meant that he won't provide his directorial opinions to Chui Mui unless when asked.

Being a low budget production, Chui Mui didn't even have a monitor to view/review scenes.